None.
The present invention relates to the art of computer driven printers, particularly, large format color ink jet printers. Printers of this type have a printhead carriage which is mounted for reciprocal movement on the printer in a direction orthogonal to the direction of movement of the paper or other medium on which printing is to take place through the printer. The printer carriage of a color printer typically has four removable piezo-electric or thermal ink jet printheads mounted thereon. Each of the printheads contains a supply of ink which, for large scale printers, is generally inadequate due to the large volumes of ink which are required as compared with the ink supply requirements of desk top printers. Consequently, various means have been proposed for continuously or periodically refilling the carriage-borne printheads with ink. These systems fall into two categories. The first comprises offboard or off-axis ink reservoirs which are continuously connected to the carriage-borne or onboard printheads by flexible tubes. The second comprises a xe2x80x9ctake a gulpxe2x80x9d system in which the printhead carriage is periodically moved to one end of its path of travel where it is then connected with off-axis ink reservoirs to fill the onboard printheads. This xe2x80x9ctake a gulpxe2x80x9d system is disclosed in Hewlett-Packard""s Designjet 2000 printer referred to in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/805,861 filed Mar. 3, 1997 and published in European Patent Publication No. 0863016 on Sep. 9, 1998.
Large format printers are expensive pieces of equipment which preferably should be capable of using different types of ink without significant down time of the printer when changing or replacing the ink delivery system or components thereof. The different ink types may for convenience be broadly referred to as indoor ink and outdoor ink, meaning ink intend to be used for production of drawings, posters, and other printed material which may be displayed outdoors or indoors. Outdoor ink is pigment based, i.e. containing a plurality of discrete undissolved pigment particles suspended in a fluid carrier. Dye-based ink has a lower degree of optical density and permanence but is less expensive. Since pigment based inks and dye-based inks are incompatible with each other, a system is desired which enables the use of either type of ink in a printer without cross-contamination of the printer inks by each other.
Further, in color printers four or more separate colors of ink may be used comprising black and various primary or mid-primary colors such as cyan, magenta and yellow. In color ink printers provision must also be made to ensure that neither incorrect types of ink nor incorrect colors of ink can inadvertently be used in the system.
Since the ink delivery tubes connected from offboard reservoirs to onboard printheads continually flex, leakage and breakage of the ink supply tubes may be experienced. A reliable ink delivery system and guides for routing the ink delivery tubes to minimize flexing, wear and damage of the ink tubes is desired. One such system is shown in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/240,039 filed Jan. 29, 1999 (HP 60980039) by Gasso, et al and owned by the assignee of the present invention, that disclosure being incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention provides an ink supply tube supporting and guiding system for a large format printer comprising:
a) a unitary tube support and guide having a first tube guide surface, a tube support surface and a second tube guide surface, said first and said second tube guide surfaces extending upwardly from said support surface and being spaced apart to define an ink tube support and guide area therebetween; and
b) support structure for supporting said unitary tube guide on a printer.
The present invention further provides an ink delivery system for an inkjet printer which includes a plurality of ink tubes supported in a tube guide and extending from ink supply reservoirs to inkjet printheads on board a moveable printhead carriage, said ink delivery system comprising a carriage connector unit having an in-line tubes driver positioned in and aligned with said tubes in said tube guide, said carriage connector unit including a rigid arm having a plurality of said ink tubes therein arranged in a common plane, said arm extending over the top of an upwardly extending wall of said guide for conveying ink to said printheads.
The present invention further provides an ink delivery tube system for an ink jet printer which includes a plurality of flexible ink delivery tubes for conveying ink from stationary ink reservoirs to inkjet printheads mounted on a moveable carriage, said tube system comprising ink delivery tubes arranged in at least one group extending in an upwardly extending plane, said tubes being bound together along a portion of their length by an anti-buckle tubes carrier, said carrier comprising a protective sheath having integrally formed stretch resistant tension ribs connected to and extending from one side of said carrier a distance sufficient for resisting bending of said carrier and tubes convexly away from said tension ribs, said tension ribs having insignificant compression resistance to permit bending of said carrier and tubes concavely toward said tension ribs.
The present invention further provides, an ink delivery system for an ink jet printer which includes a plurality of ink delivery tubes arranged in spaced generally vertically extending parallel planes, each plane having a number of tubes therein, said tubes in each plan being bound together by separate ink tube carriers, at least one of said carriers having wear resistant surfaces on at least one lateral side which faces away from the other carrier.
The present invention further provides an inkjet printer having a frame, a transversely moveable printhead carriage mounted for reciprocating movement on said frame, ink supply reservoir means mounted on said frame and flexible ink supply tubes for delivering ink from said ink reservoir means to inkjet printheads on said printhead carriage, said printer further comprising a unitary ink tube guiding system comprising:
a) a unitary tube guide having a generally upwardly extending first tube guide surface, a tube support surface and a second generally upwardly extending rear tube guide surface, said generally upwardly extending guide surfaces of said guide being spaced apart to define a tube support and guide area therebetween; and
b) support structure for supporting said unified guide on said printer; said flexible ink tubes having substantially parallel first and second reaches and a reverse bend supported on said support surface and confined for sliding movement between said guide surfaces.